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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Zissner advise his clients to worry about the marketplace last?
(a) Writing a good piece for the marketplace is easy when they know what sells.
(b) Because nobody knows what is going to sell.
(c) Because the marketplace always needs books and will take anything.
(d) Because the marketplace never changes.

2. What is another important characteristic of a writer?
(a) To be aware of the way words are spelled.
(b) To sound out simple syllables.
(c) To be aware of the rhythm and sound of words together.
(d) To sound out simple sentences.

3. What is the main attitude that writers have today?
(a) To write well, regardless of whether it is fiction or nonfiction.
(b) To write literature, the way it was defined before WWII.
(c) To write modern literature and be the next best author.
(d) To be published in the New Yorker.

4. Does skipping grammar check save a writer time?
(a) Yes, it is one less thing the writer has to do.
(b) No, they have to do line edits anyways to check grammar.
(c) No. It harms the writer, and makes more work for them and the editors.
(d) Yes. It is uneccessary since the editor can check grammer.

5. What could cause a writer to write unclear?
(a) Not having enough experience.
(b) Not taking any writing classes.
(c) Not having brainstormed enough.
(d) Not knowing what they want to say.

Short Answer Questions

1. What gives nonfiction books life?

2. What is an example of a dead language?

3. What are the best aspects of a good story?

4. Why is the English language changing all the time?

5. How many people are in the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Zinsser make of this distinction of fiction versus nonfiction in the literary world?

2. Do gimmicks usually work in good writing?

3. Why do writers have a hard time starting at the "true beginning?"

4. Why is nonfiction now considered to be literature?

5. When can some writers break grammar rules?

6. When is it acceptable for a new word to enter the English languages American Heritage Dictionary? Can you give an example?

7. Why does Zinsser avoid using journalism as a model for good writers?

8. Why are interviews so important to an article?

9. What becomes of a finished article that nobody reads?

10. When can grammar rules be broken?

(see the answer keys)

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